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Paranatural: Chapter 5
The fifth chapter of Paranatural, titled The Activity Club and the Insidious Infiltrator, began on 12/22/2014 and ended 9/18/2018. It was preceded by The Activity Club and the Ghost Train and followed by Stephen and the Suspension of Disbelief. Chapter 5 follows Max's (presumed) fifth day in Mayview as he and the rest of the Activity Club deal with a body-snatching spirit with an agenda. Summary The chapter begins with the Activity Club barging into the Teacher's Lounge with Mr. Garcia, Ms. Baxter, Richard Spender and Mr. Starchman eating lunch and someone saying "It's one of them". The scene then cuts to hours before school starts as Vice Principal DuNacht convinces Principal Pleezdoo that the bus-jumper from days prior must be apprehended, with the permission from an unidentified "Mr. President". Meanwhile at the Puckett household, a groggy Max has to decline his dad's offer of a Baxborough trip due to the previous night's events. At the Dojo, Isabel Guerra observes Mina Zarei tend to a ghost and steals one of her vials after being given a new tool by Francisco Guerra. Mina catches her and takes her wound to fix later, while Isabel dodges her questions and heads off. Inside the Slanted Manse, Isaac O'Connor and Doorman have a discussion about exclusion and anger before the spectral heads off to school, where Spender hides the locket he's been trying to open. Doorman and a ninja rabbit spirit (later identified as Nin) communicate with their master and open the locket, which alerts Spender and worries Doorman. Isabel, in the meantime, is chased into the Corner Store by a long dog. Max discovers her buying a toothbrush, and the two have a discussion on friendship that PJ overhears. As the two spectrals and the dog walk to Mayview Middle School, they discuss Spender, Isaac, ghosts that can last longer and use tools, and the feeling of being followed. Jeff Flavors's act of greeting Max at school makes him the target of Johnny Jhonny, Ollie Oop and RJ. After they leave, an irate brain spirit leaps from the dog into Jeff and attempts to enter the Teacher's Lounge, but is told that he can only get in there for getting in trouble. Meanwhile, Isaac's confrontation of Max for information only gets him told off for acting like he's owed anything. Gym class begins and Coach Oop explains the rules of Hitball using Ollie as an aide. Johnny's group (sans Stephen, who is absent due to a suspension) try to identify the floating Activity Club members in the picture before Johnny is chosen as a team leader alongside Isabel. The two leaders pick their team members and Coach Oop starts the game from the safety of his office. Max is taken to a corner by Suzy after dodging Isabel's concerns, while Ed Burger speaks to his spirit, Muse, about his own. Ed's attempt to block a ball from hitting Isabel allows Johnny to identify him as one of the "floating people", while Ed gets advice from Muse before being knocked out of the game. Suzy blackmails Max with photos of his bus-jumping and warns him about the Student Council's investigation. Shortly after this, Johnny hits Max with the Golden Switch, a ball that causes a person to switch teams on a clean hit and the whole team to come back into the game on a catch. As Max is crossing sides, he hears a voice tell him to duck and narrowly avoids being hit with a ball thrown by the possessed Jeff. Dimitri Danger ropes Max and Johnny into a plan to defeat Isabel, and later Dimitri takes a hit for Johnny after the Student Council's attempt to subdue Jeff fails. As he heads to the bleachers, Max and Johnny's group execute the plan to hit Cody Jones with the Golden Switch; Isabel confronts the possessed Jeff in the meantime, learning that his name is Hijack and his plan to get into the teacher's lounge. Dimitri's plan goes off without a hitch as Cody is hit by the Golden Switch after jumping to avoid a combo throw. Before Cody can properly swap teams, he is hit by Jeff, who then launches into a rant about Johnny's bullying. Isabel's attempt to knock out the group to end the game gets foiled by Johnny when he catches her ball. Johnny ushers RJ and Ollie off the field for their protection and Max notices, delivering him a backhanded compliment; Johnny in turn commends Max for standing up to his bullying. The two are given the Golden Switch by a departing Cody, which Max uses to knock out the Ball Golem, removing most of the balls on Jeff's side. Jeff responds by pitching the Switch with the intent to hurt Johnny; Max is able to redirect the ball and slow its speed enough for Johnny to catch it, but his deflection breaks his arm. Johnny then rallies the benched Burnhounds into lobbing balls at Jeff, who gets locked down into taking them by Lisa. The onslaught of balls is enough to eject Hijack, but the resulting confusion from Coach Oop's return allows him to re-enter Jeff. During the confusion, an unknown party supplies Max with a Doctopus. Coach Oop leads Max and Jeff away to the nurse's office and the teacher's lounge respectively. On the way out, Suzy puts a wire on Max in order to blackmail him and an unknown party slips him a note. Max has a talk with Johnny about taking the hit and misplaced guilt, and Johnny rouses the kids into a chant as Coach Oop leads Max away. He turns around to see a shade of the Doctopus on Max's arm. Isabel is also able to give Max a warning about Hijack's intentions before he leaves. Richard Spender and Lucifer have a discussion about the threats lurking in Mayview, but when Spender refuses to seek aid for his burn, the spirit launches into a scathing take-down and a plea to not let him be ruled by his emotions. Max criticizes Hijack in turn as he heads to the nurse, noting that his actions got innocent people hurt and that he's just as much of a bully as Johnny's crew. Back at the gym's entrance, Ed's mounting insecurity leads to him asking Isabel if she's angry at him, and being left directionless at her non-answer. Johnny and the group spot him and formulate an attack strategy, and the Journalism Club, the Activity Club, and Johnny and RJ race past Coach Oop to their respective areas. After recruiting Isaac and reuniting with Max, the Activity Club barges into the Teacher's Lounge. Spender leads the kids into a plan to trail the teachers to see which one could be hosting Hijack, pairing Isabel up with himself and making Max sit the mission out. The Journalism Club's attempt to obtain the blackmail information on Max during this conversation is sabotaged constantly by Dimitri. Dr. Zarei, in the meantime, patches up Isabel's wound remotely and talks to her spirit, Patchworm, regarding her handling of Spender and the Ghost Train; the doctor's attempt to show her control of the train backfires and her trepidation causes her connection with the train to break. Zarei's parents have a slight discussion with her before she reveals that she is heading off for a date. Spender sends the kids off for the tracking mission, with Isaac tailing Mr. Garcia, Ed following Mr. Starchman, Spender and Isabel following Ms. Baxter, and Max being benched due to his injury. Max decides to head to the School Store to follow up on the note, bantering with Ollie before heading into the saloon-styled store. He is greeted by Lisa serving as a bartender. Ed witnesses Mr. Starchman engage in various weird activities before finger-skating with a skateboard; while he looks at the event with awe, he is ambushed by Johnny and RJ. As Ed is dragged away, Isabel and Mr. Spender have a conversation while watching Ms. Baxter, discussing Spender's injury and secretiveness, as well as Isabel's lost friend and her recent injury. When Ms. Baxter leaves for the restroom, Isabel sneaks into her office to look at her computer. Isaac mulls over his anger problems during his tracking of Mr. Garcia, and his spirit responds by stating something feels off, putting the spectral on edge. Zarei proceeds to go on her date with Agent Day at a restaurant in the Mayview Mini Mall area. After their server, Penny, takes their drink orders, Day divulges her theory on the town: a hidden truth inside Mayview connects incidents such as the disappearance of Ed's parents, Spender's secrecy, an overabundance of ghosts and spirits, and the threat of monsters inside the town. Zarei's attempt at intimidation is quickly shot down and she tries to discuss tactics with Patchworm, unaware that Day has also gone into heightened perception with her spirit, Venus Guytrap, in order to get the menu read to her and eavesdrop on her conversation. After a bit more banter, Zarei asks Day how much she knows about her, Spender, and the town, to which Day replies about her connections to Boss Leader, Agent Walker, and a "mutual friend" between Zarei and herself. Meanwhile, at the School Store, Lisa explains the store's functions to Max. While she doesn't know who gave him the note, she removes Suzy's wire from him, using it as blackmail to get him to do her dirty work. Max screams out if anyone wants to talk to him, and is answered by Cody. Johnny and RJ slam Ed against a locker and interrogate him, showing him the picture RJ had obtained the night previously; Ed can only see the Ghost Train in the image. Ed then tells Johnny to beat him up, psychoanalyzing him when Johnny gets suspicious; Johnny's reluctant punch and Ed's subsequent dodge invigorates Ed, who then goes all out and defeats the two. (TBC) Trivia * The chapter's cover includes the following: ** The three teachers suspected of being controlled by Hijack depicted as puppets on strings. They are gathered around a brain, which Hijack resembles. ** Johnny's hand holding a hitball and emitting gray spectral energy. ** The School Store. ** A hand emitting orange spectral energy. * This chapter is to date Paranatural's longest, with 300 pages. It took Zack 3 years and 9 months to complete. * According to 's alt text, a major theme Zack Morrison intended to convey with the chapter is hurting others without meaning to. Category:Chapters Category:Webcomic